That is always the question – here’s a practical guide…

A question a lot of marketers and IT managers ask is weather to have your Digital Asset Management platform with a cloud vendor, or to install it on-premise.

While on-premise DAM solutions mean you have total control of your DAM software, the fact is, it adds an unnecessary layer of complexity and cost.

An on-premise solution means you must host the software and maintain it, which means extra hardware, IT and personnel costs. So, ask yourself if you want or even need that control.

If you have less than 5TB of data, a cleaner and more practical solution is to simply opt for a cloud-based DAM platform, which means the DAM vendor takes responsibility for the software, including version upgrades and new features. All you need to do is log in.

The costs are lower since you do not need to worry about installation, maintenance and administration or the extra IT and labor costs associated with these functions.

A cloud-based solution means that anyone can access your DAM from anywhere else, including people such as contractors who you may not want accessing your servers.

With a cloud-based solution, all a person needs to access the assets you want them to access is a login and a web browser! It won’t matter where in the world they are.

If, however, you are managing more than 5TB of data, there is a diminishing cost benefit return and hosting your DAM internally may be a more cost-effective option.